Hungary takes on Samurai after 10 years away

Hungary returned to the Samurai bond market after more than a decade’s absence, and the newly investment grade rated sovereign left plenty of demand from Japanese investors on the table to rebuild its curve.

Hungary, rated Baa3/BBB-/BBB-, printed a ¥30bn (€229mn) three year bond in the Japanese markets on March 14.

Printing through the government debt management agency AKK, Hungary had a specific goal in mind when going to the Japanese market.

“We are trying to diversify our portfolio,” György Barcza, chief executive officer of AKK, told EMEA Finance. “We saw crises in US dollars and euros in the last 10 years and so building up a portfolio will help protect us in case something happens in the global markets.”

Investors swarmed the transaction, with order books hitting ¥47.1bn, though Hungary capped the deal at its final amount.